Affinity chromatography is a method of separating biochemical mixtures based on highly specific interactions between an affinity ligand and its target, such as that between antibody and antigen. An affinity ligand that selectively interacts with the desired target is immobilized onto a solid support in order to create an affinity matrix that can be used in a column format. Affinity chromatography can be used in a number of applications, including nucleic acid purification, protein purification from cell free extracts or cell culture supernatants, and purification from blood.